Never Source Your Own Hydraulic Components Again: Here’s Why

Many companies think they need to dedicate internal resources to hydraulic component sourcing, but internally, you may not have the right set of engineering skills or knowledge of industry trends to recognize and source the right hydraulic components.

Working with a global hydraulics sourcing agency allows companies to take advantage of global, industry-wide resources and helps them access the components and technical advice needed to make a cost-effective and productive decision while lowering the total cost of ownership. Discover the benefits of a global, experienced sourcing firm.

Access to the World’s Best Hydraulic Technology

Extending your reach to the global market ensures that your net is wide enough to capture the world’s best innovations in technology. Domestic sources may not always have the capacity to stay competitive. When you work with a globally sourced hydraulics organization, you’re getting access to the best technology the globe has to offer, without having to do any of the extra legwork on your own.

Let a sourcing agency determine what’s best for your needs and budget, given the wealth of technology available. In short, a sourcing agency has the capacity and resources to do what your internal team lacks.

Ease of Use and Contracts

A global sourcing agency has in-house capabilities that your internal sourcing team may lack. They can handle every aspect of the job, from engineering and component design, partner matching, logistics, and implementation. A global sourcing agency also has the ability to provide bilingual staff, so you won’t have to deal with language and other cultural barriers.

Another benefit? Ongoing technical expertise and support. With an internal team, you’re stuck if a component breaks and you can’t communicate with the manufacturer. Using an outsourced strategy takes the stress out of parts procurement and maintenance, leaving you to focus on what’s most important.

Quality Assurance

Though many companies praise international sources in terms of quality, some buyers are still leery of purchasing products from outside sources. Why is this? Unfortunately, we live in an era where skepticism reigns supreme and consumers demand transparency. There’s a misconception that only American products are made to rigorous standards; the truth is that most countries have stringent requirements for manufacturing.

Another concern for potential buyers has to do with the Buy American Act. Signed into law by President Hoover in 1933, it requires government contractors to give precedence to U.S.-made products whenever possible. However, most people don’t realize that products made in Western Europe do indeed qualify for the BAA.

Questions To Ask Before Sourcing Hydraulic Components

Before you locate your equipment, whether through an internal team or a global sourcing agency, there are a few considerations you should think about, including:

What’s the Cost?

When you’re weighing your options, the first thing you should think about is how the decision will affect your company financially. What are the direct costs to your company to in-source vs. outsource? Is your team flexible enough to handle logistics issues if they arise? If you crunch the numbers, you’ll often find that an agency will be a better deal in the long run.

How Will The Economic Climate Affect the Chain?

Inflation, geopolitical climate, and supply-chain issues should all be on the forefront of your mind when you’re making the decision to source internally. A global agency handles all the legwork for you, from customs to your doorstep. When you step back and weigh your options, you’ll find that outside sourcing provides you with the best return on investment.

Are your ready to source your hydraulic components globally? We can help. Talk to us about the kinds of products we distribute and the manufacturers that we’re proud to work with.

Particularly when it comes to cleaning the water side, shell and tube heat exchangers have advantages over plate heat exchangers. Universal Hydraulik has now presented two innovations for this tried-and-tested product. One of these was given a closer look by fluid at Kaeser Kompressoren in Coburg.

RJW 8541 – Fail Safe Cooler

Sometimes, heat can be troublesome. It is generally created unintentionally, and if it is not wanted for the process, it must be dissipated. Cooling ­fins, fans and in certain cases appropriate heat exchangers are the tools of choice here. ‑ is also applies for compressors, where heat must be conducted away from both the drive train and from the compression process. Coburg-based compressed air specialist Kaeser Kompressoren uses air cooling alone for its screw compressors up to 30 kW, while for larger capacities air or water may be used, depending on the application and space requirements. The less space is available, the more water tends to be used. For units with three-­figure kW ratings, water cooling is the option most frequently used.

The Problem with Water Quality

Water – well, that sounds simple enough at first. But the devil is in the detail. Not all water is the same. And unlike in the oil or air side of a heat exchanger, the designer normally has less control over the quality of the water used. Each user deals with this issue differently; some put additives into the cooling circuit, while others have open circuits and highly varying qualities of water. Sometimes river water is used. But rivers can often be cloudy, and industry experts know that water ­filters are one of the components people economize on. Even where the water quality is tested in advance, a flood can turn a clear-running stream into a torrent of turbulent mud.

Additionally, substances such as chlorides or manganese in the water are invisible at first but can corrode away even the best stainless steel. It’s a similar story where seawater is used.

Both Tubes and Plates – Now Riding Piggyback

With their fi­nned design, plate heat exchangers contain a number of sharp internal angles, which makes them prone to contamination and becoming blocked. As a rule they are not easy to clean, unless one opts for large and costly models that can be unscrewed. Shell and tube heat exchangers, on the other hand, have smooth tubes on the water side that are less likely to attract dirt. If necessary the diameter of the tubes can be increased or the material adapted to the water quality. Various solutions exist, such as copper-nickel alloys (CuNi10 Fe), stainless steel (1.4571) or titanium, to cover most applications. The biggest advantage, however, is that this type of heat exchanger is very simple to clean. Just unscrew it, scrub it out and put it back together, you could say.

On the other hand, however, simple shell and tube heat exchangers have the disadvantage of requiring more space for a given cooling capacity. This is where Universal Hydraulik brings the hybrid heat exchanger into the game, combining the benefi­ts of both plate and shell and tube heat exchangers. This design has a greatly enlarged heat exchanging surface on the oil or air side, achieved through the use of plates drawn over the water tubes and linked to them by metal. This allows a unit to be created that is as compact as a plate heat exchanger. With this hybrid cooler, the manufacturer is now particularly represented in many Kaeser compressors used in advanced customer applications in difficult conditions such as marine environments. Another important factor; however, is that the loss of pressure caused by the heat exchanger inserted into the circuit must be as low as possible. Particularly in the case of air cooling and typically not more than 0.1 bar, and for this reason Kaeser has often ­fitted two heat exchangers. This is because where pressure loss is low, the level of compression can also be lower and thus a smaller motor can be used. For situations where space is very limited and only one unit can be ­fitted, meanwhile, the technicians of Universal Hydraulik have devised a market innovation – effectively two heat exchangers in one, in which the main tube carries another ‘piggyback’, as it were. The result: the required cooling capacity and a low loss of pressure, available for use where space is reduced.

Safety Heat Exchangers in Compact Format

In some situations, such as where river water or groundwater in an open-loop circuit is used for cooling, it is essential that no fluid from the oil circuit comes into contact with the water and that no water comes into the oil circuit. For such purposes, safety heat exchangers, which are also referred to as failsafe heat exchangers, are used – that is essentially a specially-designed double-tube heat exchanger. These exchangers also feature electronic monitoring for leakage that might occur, say, due to pitting corrosion.

Here again, Universal Hydraulik has come up with an innovation. Until now, safety heat exchangers have not been available in hybrid designs, and as a result they have been about three times larger for the same cooling capacity. With a new manufacturing process, however, it has become possible to make the gap between the tubes so small that the manufacturer can now house the double tube plus electronic monitoring in a hybrid model. This means that an ordinary hybrid cooler can now be replaced by a safety heat exchanger of the same physical size. And while Kaeser is not yet ­fitting the new safety heat exchangers into its compressors, it is good to know that it is available.

IC-Fluid Power is well underway preparing for exhibiting at the Motion, Drive and Automation (MDA) show September 12-17, 2016 at McCormick Place in Chicago. The MDA show is co-located with IMTS (International Manufacturing Technology Show) and is America’s largest manufacturing show featuring over 2,000 exhibitors and 115,000 visitors. Stop by our booth to see what’s new! Visit http://www.imts.com/ to register.